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Russell
Pottharst

Russell Pottharst has been providing corporations with counsel on business strategy

Walnut Creek, California

Touting a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration in International Business Management, Russell Pottharst provides business-minded consulting services to San Francisco Bay Area corporations. With expertise in computer systems, Mr. Pottharst focuses more specifically on operations and reporting for maximum impact on sales, revenues, and profits. A member of the Project Management Institute and the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals, Mr. Pottharst also volunteers his time to nonprofit organizations. Russell Pottharst excelled in academics. He completed his undergraduate degree from Tulane University cum laude, writing an honor’s thesis on Executive Information Systems. While at Tulane, Mr. Pottharst was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society. Shortly afterward, he obtained an MBA from Loyola University, writing his International Business Management Master’s thesis on International Business Strategy: Maximizing Operational Success. Mr. Pottharst began his career in banking, working with trust accounting application systems and redeveloping back-office operating procedures for greater workload capacity. In multiple positions afterward, Russell Pottharst was employed to analyze systems operations and put new, more efficient business practices into place. Mr. Pottharst was called to work overseas several times, one particularly to review over three dozen systems sites in Europe in a successful attempt to locate and remediate those that were potentially affected by the Y2K problem. Russell Pottharst’s experience in serving the nonprofit industry is wide. He served as co-chairman of the social activities committee of a prominent 600-plus member private organization, leading events with over 200 attendees. As a lower-school fundraising chairman for a well known southern independent school, Russell Pottharst re-engineered fundraising procedures, leading to the largest fundraising results seen to-date in that endeavor. He also presided over a local cultural society, increasing membership from just under 230 to over 400. Mr. Pottharst served his Chamber of Commerce, working to increase membership. He has volunteered for United Way in New Orleans as a Departmental Campaign Communicator at his business, as well as the City Park Improvement Association as a board member and Treasurer. Mr. Pottharst also worked with WYES, Channel 12 public television in New Orleans; and through his committee’s efforts, he raised almost $10,000 in donations from his creation: Children’s Day, an annual event at the 1500 acre City Park.


Russell Pottharst's Schools

Russell Pottharst's Companies

Russell Pottharst's Publications

  • The Manager’s Toolbox: Essential Tips for New Hire IT Training, by Russell Pottharst
    , Russell Pottharst's Blog on Bigsight
    September, 2011
    Hiring new staff for any department is an important decision; however, hiring the right IT personnel represents one of the most critical choices you can make. An IT staff generally makes up the backbone of any business, keeping integral systems and processes running smoothly and efficiently, which enables other individuals to accomplish their jobs effectively. Without a strong IT staff, mistakes and small problems multiply quickly, creating a headache much larger than initially anticipated. In order to hire the right people for IT tasks, managers must take extra care to assess skills and personal capabilities. The following checklist is designed to help managers and business owners make the right decisions when it comes to hiring IT personnel.

    1. Make sure your prospective employees possess a good understanding of not only the business side, but also the computer systems environment and the goals of the organization.

    2. Allow both technical and business employees to take part in the hiring process. This will help to hire a well-rounded candidate who fits in with the entire team.

    3. Make sure your job candidates possess important skills that go beyond technology know-how. These include good communication and the ability to recognize and assess problems from multiple perspectives.

    4. Try to get an idea of the candidate’s level of passion for technology and the business. If they find improving business processes and technical systems exciting, there is a good chance that they will be able to play an integral part of the company’s growth and IT development.

    About the Author:
    As the Project Manager-SAS with Ascent Services Group on the Amgen Inc. account, Russell Pottharst manages a variety of projects, such as archive/retrieval and backup/restore operations for clinical trials data, and software source code-versioning tool replacement for biostatistical programming needs. Prior to his current role, Russell Pottharst served as a Senior Consulting Services Manager for SAS Institute Inc. in its San Francisco branch office, and worked with external and internal clients.